


Menagerie of Tragedy

by deathwailart



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Gen, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-08
Updated: 2012-04-08
Packaged: 2017-11-03 06:41:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/378446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathwailart/pseuds/deathwailart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cersei Lannister character study, takes place after s2, ep1 of the show and the beginning of A Clash of Kings.  Contains mild spoilers from A Feast For Crows.<br/>Title from Terrible Things by April Smith and The Great Picture Show.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Menagerie of Tragedy

She is the lion of her family, she is the one that will take the kingdoms by the throat and squeeze, watch the life bleed out as they kick and twitch; she is a lioness and whilst the lion with his proud mane and regal gait is the figurehead, the lioness is the one to run things.  
  
Made to marry a stag. A Baratheon was never meant for her; lions devour stags. It should have been Rhaegar, a dragon and a lion ripping out the jugulars of their lessers should they dare to oppose them. Or her and another lion, her and Jaime in the fashion of the Targaryens, golden and deadly, a lion and his lioness, smiles hiding sharp teeth. She can picture them clad in crimson and gold, before the Iron Throne with the bodies of their enemies beneath them, her hands white from wringing the throat of the valonqar, of Tyrion. She is a lioness; she is the mother who will protect her cubs. They all know what lions do when they take over and her son is a Baratheon in name only, he is not some prancing stag that blunders from one mess to another, not her darling boy.  
  
It was not merely a woman's wrath that Ned Stark underestimated, not even a mother's wrath. Her wrath is something more. Her wrath could topple cities and empires. When has she ever had what she wanted, what she deserved? She was meant to have the gilded prince, beautiful Rhaegar who took some Dornish wisp and then a long-faced Stark instead of someone with a true pedigree, someone from the house that could have ruled them all. When she thought she had Robert he had wanted that same dead girl. Some Northern girl, some Stark took both the men she had wanted, stole Cersei's joy away, some dreary, pale thing no doubt - what beautiful things come from up there where there is no sun, no sophistication, where they run wild.  
  
 _Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds,_ the phantom words that mock her still, _And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you._  
  
A lion does not concern himself with the opinions of the sheep. It sounds like something Father would tell Jaime. She was raised to be strong and if she had been her twin then she would be the heir to Casterly Rock and the whole of the Seven Kingdoms and beyond would fear her, bare their necks and pray they did not cross her. Jaime has never been serious; the world is a game to a knight  
  
Perhaps it would all have been different if Tyrion had never been born. Uncle Kevan always spoke of how close her mother was, how Lady Joanna Lannister was the one who acted as confidante to Tywin. Until that monstrous little imp stole her from the world, taking her life as he came into it, stunted and misshapen. What would the world have given Cersei if her mother had been there to counsel, to rule the home? Cersei might have been so much more. Tyrion turns all to ashes, wretched little creature that she is never rid of, entrusted with more than her even if she is the one who is truly Tywin. It is how she likes to think of herself. Cersei Lannister, the golden lion, Tywin's heir and daughter. One thing she envies Dorne is their Rhoynish culture, how an heir is the firstborn, a daughter - she would not wish to come from any other family but it is one thing that would have given her what she wants. They would not dare to tell her no, if she had been the one waiting to take over the richest, most powerful house in all the Seven Kingdoms. Velvet over steel, crimson and gold velvet over Valyrian steel, that is how she likes to think her reign would have been.  
  
She reigns now in place of Joffrey but she can see her son now for what he is. A mother can love her child and still be aware of her follies. Joffrey is many things, her darling boy, her king now, the blood of lions made of her and Jaime but he is not something she can wield. Joffrey will do what Joffrey will.  
  
Maggy's words haunt her every step. Even seated before the court, her eyes follow another Stark ghost, this one living but so white and drawn against the red rings of her eyes and the copper of her hair. Another queen, younger, prettier. Sansa has no love for Joffrey and there is wolf in that girl, too much wolf even with her beast slain. Her brother rallies banners, her father could have told her anything, her mother rides with that King in the North. Will Sansa be the one? The younger queen, the more beautiful queen? The one who will cast her down and take what little Cersei has left to hold dear? She has so many enemies, everyone but Jaime and Joffrey, Myrcella, Tommen, Father - everyone else is an enemy who will kill her if she does not strike first.  
  
There are no more dragons and the wolf is a pup. The lion will remain at the head of the kingdom while she still has breath in her body.


End file.
